From Fairy Circles
by Cliodna Queen of the Banshee
Summary: During the first war, Sirius makes a mistake inside a Veela circle one night while trying to recruit them for the Order. Lily is there, which doesn't help. This changes everything. Fem Harry/Tom Riddle Voldemort. Draco/Hermione. Ron/Luna. Big pre-Hogwarts part. This story will have some interesting twists and turns not expected, with little beforehand information. Enjoy the ride.
1. Sirius Makes A Mistake

Chapter One: Sirius Makes A Mistake

Lily Potter and Sirius Black tramped through the snow in the wintery afternoon beside each other. They passed blue trees with long skeletal branches reaching out like fingers toward the silver sky, stomping their way through the silent forestry in boots and long cloaks, the cloaks pulled up around their bodies and up over their heads.

"I don't see why we had to Portkey five miles outside the bloody place," Sirius muttered.

"The Veela are tricky. Protective of their camps. They're a kind of fairy classification. You know what fairies are like about their circles," said Lily, seeming calm and unfazed by their walk through the snow.

"I still don't think this is going to work," Sirius admitted. "I know the Order wants the Veela on their side and all. I just don't think the Veela take sides. It's not their way."

"Quite right. They're not like centaurs, so philosophical and distant from events," said Lily, frowning, troubled. "But they are very grey - quicksilvery. And in result they're just the same as the centaurs: no sides.

"Still." She rallied herself. "James was busy on a different mission. The two of us were ordered to go and we have to, that's all."

They were silent, their breaths coming out in mists before them, their wands out as pointers. Finally, they came to the edge of a forest clearing - and Lily let out a soft breath of awe.

There was a circle of colorful silk tents and all around them, the snow had mysteriously melted away to reveal warmth and soft, deep brown earth. A cheerful fire crackled in the center of the circle of tents. And floating serenely around them were - all the air seemed to have suddenly disappeared for Sirius - tall, beautiful Veela, inhuman and inhumanly gorgeous, with pale skin and long silvery-blonde hair.

Sirius had leaned forward, smiling dreamily, opening his mouth to say something incredible, something impressive -

Lily smirked wryly and tugged at the shoulder of his cloak. "Sirius." She tapped him on the shoulder - and snapped him out of it.

He shook his head to clear it as if drunk, and scowled sourly down at the snow. "Damned Veela," he muttered as the spell broke.

"Don't say that too close to them," said Lily in wry amusement. "Let's go."

And they walked forward cautiously into the camp - pausing rather close beside each other when all the Veela turned to look at them.

"Ah. The Order members," said a maternal-looking slightly older Veela, still with that incredible beautiful quality, folding her hands and smiling thinly. She was impossible to read. "Yes, please come in. You are welcome here." She moved aside and gestured gracefully behind her into the camp.

The other Veela moved aside as well and made a path for Sirius and Lily as they walked cautiously into the clearing with their packs over their shoulders, slowly putting their wands away. They immediately relaxed - feeling a sudden flood of warmth inside the fairy or Veela circle.

One young woman Veela saw Sirius and she smiled sharply. Sirius was a true Black, a handsome young man, with wide, deep black, heavy lidded eyes; striking strong features with high cheekbones, and a wild mess of black hair.

The Veela came forward and turned on her full charm, all her magical power - placing a delicate, graceful hand on his shoulder and smiling charmingly at him. "You - you are single, yes?" she said coyly, crafty and pretend shy.

Lily smirked. "He is," she answered dryly for him. "I'm married to his friend James."

The Veela brightened - but Sirius had turned on full Occlumency shield against the onslaught, and he scowled, shrugging himself out from underneath the surprised Veela's hand. "My apologies," he said sharply, barking the simple sentence with so much behind it. "I do not appreciate being bewitched, and I make it a habit not to make love to things that aren't human!"

He stormed into the colorful silk tent whose door remained tied open, which had clearly been made up for the travelers.

Lily looked frantic. "Oh - I'm sorry - he's no good at diplomacy - he's usually so good with women and with people, but he had - an interesting upbringing -" Her bright green, almond shaped eyes darted everywhere in her delicate, heart-shaped face, and then she fled into the tent behind Sirius, long straight dark red hair flying back behind her. "Sirius! Sirius!" she hissed, sounding annoyed. Then the tent fluttered closed behind her, and the Veela were alone.

The Veela Sirius had turned down and insulted slowly grew angry. Her fist clenched where she had touched his shoulder. Wings grew black and leathery behind her, her eyes grew red, and as her previously beautiful face twisted into a horrific snarl, a tiny fireball appeared floating before her eyes -

"He is usually good with women - but he will not mate with me - because I am not human -" she hissed.

"It is too bad. He is good-looking," said the maternal Veela, the head of the camp, rather clinically. She watched the angry Veela quietly out of the corner of her eye - and then smirked, placing a hand on the young Veela's shoulder.

The young Veela paused, unwinding and transforming back, and looked up at her with big, hurt eyes.

"Daughter, I know what will assuage your hurt," said the lead Veela. "Not many outsiders know it, but when Veela wish to, they can possess other female creatures sensually - providing those creatures are… willing.

"That beautiful red-haired woman. She is human, is she not? He would have sex with her."

"But Mother," said the Veela, puzzled, "why would either of them be willing? She is married to his friend."

"Oh, we just need to… loosen them up a bit. With some of our special seductive magic, the kind laced in our food and drink. The kind that makes desire run haywire.

"Why don't we throw… a revelry tonight?"

The mother Veela smiled sharply as all the other young Veela brightened - her daughter most of all.

* * *

Still bickering -

"How could you have insulted her?! You don't know who she is!"

"She tried to magically seduce me! It's practically rape! And besides, she's probably no one important -"

Sirius and Lily walked back outside their tent - and paused, seeing the camp totally transformed.

Great tables filled with platters of food and wine filled the circle of tents, lit by cheerful flickering torches. Places to sit had been set along the campfire in the strange, snowless warmth, with that snowy winter's forest night everywhere outside them. The Veela were partying, cheering, eating and drinking - strangely delightful in their happy ethereal beauty.

"Come!" said the head matron cheerfully, waving to the Order members. "In honor of our guests! There shall be a revelry this night!"

"But the serious stuff -" Sirius began, frowning, puzzled.

"Can be saved for later. Come on," said Lily cheerfully, turning to smile at Sirius. "This is in our honor. It would be rude to refuse."

"Come, witch and wizard. Join us," said the head matron with serene warmth, holding out a hand.

And so Lily and Sirius were ushered into the circle of firelight. They were sat around the campfire and loaded with food and drink - which they consumed eagerly.

"This is like ambrosia!" said Lily enthusiastically, trying more after she'd had her first sips and bites.

"I think we should demand this every time we visit a new camp of magical creatures," said Sirius, his previous worries forgotten, digging in enthusiastically to the food and drink not unlike a fun-loving puppy.

Unseen by either the witch or the wizard, behind their backs the Veela shared smirks.

"Foolish humans," one whispered to another in passing. "We never had an intention of joining either of their war parties anyway."

The two speaking shared a soft, enchanting giggle.

Lily and Sirius ate and drank more and more - the more they consumed, the more they found they couldn't stop themselves -

And somewhere along the night, they had become much closer, sitting beside each other in the firelight, legs and knees brushing. The only two humans in the camp, they looked up at each other in surprise -

And their eyes darkened, warmed. They leaned reflexively closer to one another.

And Sirius noticed the way the firelight glowed warm against Lily's cheekbones, sparkling in her innocent green eyes - And Lily looked over Sirius's handsome visage, his wild dark hair and eyes and his bad-boy cheer, which suddenly seemed so much more distinct for her than it had ever been before -

The young princess Veela flitted ghostly into Lily's body from behind. Lily straightened and gasped, possessed, eyes glowing - still seeing and feeling everything that was going on, but having no real control over any of it -

Then the Veela Lily took Lily's previous desire, leaned forward, and kissed Sirius. He stiffened in surprise - then sighed and slowly leaned into the kiss.

Veela Lily took Sirius by the arms, and as their hands and lips were all over each other and in each other's hair, they backed up into the firelit, colorful silk tent for the guests and collapsed over onto the sumptuous bed inside. Lily was twice as enticing as a Veela, and both of them were drunk off of enchanted seductive wine, and Sirius was entranced.

Completely entranced.

They made passionate love there in that bed that winter's night. And, when they had finally fallen asleep in each other's arms, the princess Veela ghosted back out of Lily and fled the tent.

The camp was calm now. The beautiful Veela were all sitting around the normal fire examining their fingernails, rather bored and disinterested. But they looked up eagerly when the princess Veela emerged once more.

She was as smug as the cat who had eaten the canary.

"That," she sighed in satisfaction, stretching, "was delightful."

"You realize there will be consequences from this, don't you?" her mother asked simply. "Consequences from your actions? Neither of them were using protection - they were too drunk off of our bewitched wine, not expecting it beforehand. And the witch is married to the wizard's friend.

"All kinds of things could happen."

"Or nothing could happen at all," said the princess Veela, smirking at her queen. "Either way, I don't particularly care. It is not our affair to get involved with humans unless they get involved with us…

"Isn't that right, my mother, my Queen?"

"Well, that will teach them," said the queen wryly. "To throw insults inside a fairy circle."


	2. Not the End of the Story

Chapter Two: Not the End of the Story

Lily woke with a strange witch's song in her head, one she'd heard over the radio in the Alleys flat kitchen months ago, looking out the window curtains through the supermarket flowers doing household charms on a sunny afternoon. The song was dreamy and soft and breathless, and the lyrics spoke of a romantic escape out of ordinary life, a love one knows from the beginning is doomed even as they dive along into it, and making sensual love with a tall and handsome bad boy whom one can't help but get swept up by. The song ended with the witch begging both people in the affair to at least hold onto a good memory in its inevitable wreck of an aftermath, with a last lingering kiss before either the wild lovemaking or - perhaps - the ending.

Then Lily started her eyes open.

The first thing she registered was that she was in a naked man's arms, in a comfortable bed. How odd. She didn't remember falling asleep at home beside James last night, nor having slept with him in the first place. She tried to get her groggy, hazy mind to focus. She felt slightly hungover, of all things. What had been happening last night…?

Then she stiffened as she remembered.

The Veela camp. The food. The wine. The not being able to stop consuming, the odd ambrosia taste, the firelight, the winter's forest night. Then the strange sensual feelings filling her for Sirius, of all people… their legs brushing… their faces and eyes locking… they had moved closer, lips almost touching, gravity nearly pulling them together…

And then she had felt a cold rush and she - hadn't been herself. The night had been pleasurable - she could vividly remember crying out in this bed, watching Sirius's handsome face moving in exquisite, wild, passionate pleasure as he mounted her, his face flushed and his dark eyes hazy and tender - but she hadn't been in control. Hadn't been able to give much thought to any kind of caution. She had been drunk off of enchanted wine and someone else had been controlling her movements.

She looked over. Saw Sirius's sleeping face beside hers. And then she sat bolt upright in the sumptuous guest bed, horrified - and entirely naked, top to waist.

The full reality finally hit her.

At the movement, Sirius moaned and stirred awake, chest and relaxed arms bare above the covers. He saw her. His eyes widened. He lay there totally stiff, trapped, and panicked for a few seconds… And then he remembered.

They bolted away from each other, each reflexively covering themselves with the bedclothes, eyes locked as they stared at one another in horror.

"… They tricked us," Lily whispered. "I experienced Veela possession last night. I… wasn't in control."

"… The food and wine," Sirius realized in a low growl, and a deep snarl came over his face. "The ambrosia. It was laced with seductive magic, the kind that opened us up to sensuality and possession.

"The Veela I turned down."

They both seemed to realize fully the horror of what had happened at the exact same time.

They threw themselves out of bed and hurriedly tossed their clothes back on, backs turned, not talking to one another. Lily indeed seemed as though she'd never speak again. Perhaps they would never speak to each other after this. Sirius was filled with an impotent, helpless rage. If he hadn't insulted that thrice-damned Veela…

He knew why he was angry, deep down. Both of them had enjoyed last night. Neither of them wanted to admit how much. Sirius imagined the hurt specter of James, standing between their turned backs, James's eyes wide and betrayed in his imagination.

Sirius nearly felt nauseous at the thought, and he was not a queasy man. Enchanted or not, how could he have done this to his best friend…?

And so, silently, the fury continued to mount inside him.

When they both were dressed and he made to storm out of the tent, Lily grabbed at his arm. "Sirius -"

She flinched back as he turned to glare in her face - and he softened.

"They essentially assaulted us because I turned one of them down," he said quietly. "One of them possessed you, and you didn't even do anything. You don't have to be okay with that."

Lily looked down sorrowfully. Sirius felt protective - more so than he had before, something he didn't want to give too much thought to. Damn sleeping with someone and the feelings it wrought. He supposed it was called "making love" for a reason.

Stop thinking like that.

But… Either way, he hated that someone had hurt her like this. Lily wasn't like him - she was so kind, so trusting.

She was his best friend's wife.

He realized he felt angrier for her than he did for himself - and that was saying something.

He stormed out of the tent into a crowd of smirking, waiting female Veela, already up at this hour to watch the show - and then he drew his wand and they all hissed, backing away, black leathery wings growing and eyes turning red. They growled, showing defensive fangs.

"You whores just raped me and my friend!" Sirius snarled.

"What did you call us?!" the Veela in question shrieked. "I am the princess of this camp! What did you just call me -?!"

"I CALLED YOU A RAPIST WHORE!"

Sirius was about to throw a curse from his wand - its end glowed with magic - and then he felt Lily's hand on his arm.

"No, Sirius," she said softly, pleading, tugging. "Please - don't cause an incident. The Order has enough problems with the war going on as it is. And then -" She swallowed, feeling nauseous herself. "Then James will know for certain."

This combination alone, and this combination only, would have made Sirius slowly and thunderously lower his wand.

"Go join the Dark Side," he sneered at the Veela. "You'll fit right in there anyway. See if I care. I'll kill off as many of you as come find us."

The Veela had all puffed up, growing into demons, growing taller, shrieking, fangs lengthening and eyes glowing red -

And the Queen. The Queen was most fearsome of them all, though the princess in a harpy-like way was a close second behind her

"You dare speak that way to my daughter -?!" the Queen shrieked.

And then the Veela opened their mouths - fireballs appeared before their faces -

"RUN!" Lily screamed.

And Sirius and Lily were running under fire as fireballs began being spat at them from all directions, exploding onto the grounds of the camp with sounds so loud they left Lily's ears ringing. They ducked, sprinting, trying to avoid the incoming implosions as they made a sprint for the snow encrusted trees - Lily saw a glowing gold all around her and realized Sirius had his wand out again, was shielding her with his magic instead of himself -

But they both made it safely into the trees. It became frigid cold outside the fairy circle, a true winter morning with faint sunlight and skeletal blue trees against a backdrop of quiet snow. The fireballs stopped.

The Veela were not leaving their fairy circle. One glance back over the shoulder confirmed them just floating there… staring eerily.

The glowing gold shield faded away; the wand was whipped back into Sirius's cloak. Cloaks wrapped haphazardly around themselves, Sirius and Lily ran, sprinting and stumbling, through the forest and the snow for a solid mile before they stopped in the ringing silence, bending over, hands on their knees. They were now at the very edge of the forest.

Their breaths were coming out in misty puffs before them once again.

Finally, once she'd caught her breath, Lily sat down hard on the cold, snow-packed ground. "... What are we going to do?" she said quietly, staring numbly straight ahead of herself, somewhat in shock.

Sirius knelt down to look her in the eye, his face pained. She forced herself not to look away in her shame, but her face contorted and he saw it. This just made the whole thing worse.

"Look. I insulted her, that's on me, and I'm sorry. But her reaction wasn't reasonable. Neither of us could control last night. We were tricked and attacked by something beyond our power that outwitted us. It wasn't our fault and we don't have to carry the burden that it is," he pleaded.

"… But… we enjoyed it," Lily whispered, horrified.

"Of course we enjoyed it, damnit, it's sex!" Sirius exploded in frustration at last. "And we were drunk off of bewitched wine, and neither of us are exactly hags!"

Lily's shoulders moved - she put a hand to her mouth - a giggle came out - Sirius's lips began twitching in amusement -

And then all of a sudden both of them were laughing hard, somewhat despairingly, out in the snow.

"Why are we laughing?! We're horrible people!" Lily shrieked through her laughter as Sirius roared. "This is not funny!"

But somehow, once they'd exploded out all their horrified laughter, they both felt an odd sense of… catharsis. Like they had cried without really crying.

"Merlin," said Sirius, running a hand wearily through his hair in the aftermath, shaking his head in bewildered disbelief. "Look. It wasn't our fault and we couldn't control last night, and we don't need it hurting anyone else. Agreed?"

"… Yes. You want us to lie," Lily realized, frowning, troubled.

"It's one night together. We didn't even want it, really. I was bewitched and you were Veela possessed. This isn't some moral failing. We like each other as friends, of course, but this wasn't our choice. And nothing will come of it," said Sirius. "We just go back to the Order and say the Veela were rebellious and perverse, and we couldn't recruit them. No one can fault us for that. No one expected for it to work anyway.

"And then we just… remain friends, and never talk about what happened to anyone. James -"

"Doesn't need to be hurt by the fact that we were assaulted by magic," said Lily, troubled. She nodded. "… Yes," she admitted. "I agree."

And so a plan had been set.

But as they stared at each other, both of them realized that how out of control they had been last night… disturbed them.

Lily never considered the idea that with this plan, in his own determinedly angry way, Sirius might have been just as affected by last night as she was.

But as they had stood and moved to walk back to their Portkey, Lily said, "… Sirius."

Sirius turned back around in surprise.

"… It was a nice night," she said, reserved. "You were very kind. If it couldn't be James… I'm glad it was you. There's that, at least."

Sirius snorted and gave a funny little smile, as though a thought he'd had surprised even himself. "Do you know?" he said thoughtfully. "I'm glad it was you, too."

Lily smiled. "Friends, still?" she asked uneasily.

Sirius smiled cheerfully, his eyes warm. "Friends, still," he agreed. "Come on." His dark eyes danced. "Let's head back to the Portkey."

Together, smiling with exasperated fondness at one another, they began walking. Out into the smooth, silent bank of snow beyond the forestry.

The Veela never contacted either war party again - indeed, the Order never heard from them at all. They were oddly silent.

In an ideal world for both parties - ideal for them in that single moment of walking away together, at least - that would have been the end of the story.

But it wasn't. In fact, Lily didn't realize it - being a sporadic outgrowth of magic from the ordinary Muggle world, not having grown up with witch mythos despite fighting for the Order like James and Sirius, not being like Sirius from the wizarding Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

Lily didn't realize it, but she'd already been told that: It wasn't the end of the story.

* * *

The princess Lyra, Veela heiress to the camp, sat on a log just inside the Veela circle, staring out morosely into the forest the two humans had disappeared into. Her fury was gone, replaced by sadness. She had somehow sagged, fading, some of her color and beauty draining away.

Her mother came and sat beside her silently.

"... Damn them!" Lyra suddenly spat out, without any real Veela's fury. "Stupid humans! Making me sad!"

"Lyra," her mother said, "I am very old, a great legend as Queen of one of the great British Veela camps, and I have lived a long time. You are my heiress, and I cannot afford to have you behaving childishly the way you are now. I hope this has taught you that?"

Lyra looked over, wide-eyed and worried. "The great Vera can't just die!" she said fiercely to her mother, afraid.

Queen Vera sighed. "Someday, Princess Lyra, you are going to have to start taking responsibility for your actions."

Princess Lyra frowned - and looked down, scowling angrily with tears in her gorgeous eyes.

"You regret?" said Queen Vera. "Only regret can make a Veela lose their natural beautiful power. The human man you made love to called you a rapist and said you'd fit in amongst the Dark. That is what did it."

"... I shouldn't be bothered," Lyra muttered. "The humans, they cause us nothing but trouble, Queen Vera. You know that."

"Few creatures are more infuriated by being marginalized than a fairy," said Vera simply, her eyes distant, with the tone of someone who had lived a very long time and by now just saw simple facts. "And few creatures are more vicious in magical mythos than a fairy."

Lyra looked up tentatively. "We won't really join the Dark Side… will we?"

Vera snorted at the idea and smiled. "... Would you want us to?" she asked curiously - testing her heiress.

"... No." Lyra looked quietly into the forestry after the witch and wizard, her eyes sad. Lovemaking made Veela feel things, too. "No, I think we should keep to ourselves."

"That," said her mother, smiling, "is the wisest thing you have said in a long time."

"If I have to start being a Queen and owning up to my mistakes, I may as well start now," said Lyra fairly and simply. "I will have to take a mate soon," she added matter of factly, looking off into the distance. She had grown beautiful again, slowly lifting herself up. "Impregnate a suitable fellow female Veela."

"Do not get ahead of yourself," Vera warned. "And remember, Lyra - I am very old, but you may have to own up to that mistake one day." She nodded after the witch and wizard. "Not absolutely - but perhaps.

"The power of sensuality - it is one of the strongest, most vicious, and most emotionally fraught kinds of magic there is. This is why its beings can make love all across the spectrum. It is also what makes us dangerous."

Lyra looked after Lily and Sirius - chin lifted, not angelic, not even close. There was still that spark of cruel mischief in her eye, a hint of a smirk curling her lips. Yet she was changed - closer to a serious woman than to a spoiled young girl.

* * *

The intertwining cobblestone, lamp post lined London Alleys were always a hive of wizarding activity, hidden away behind a concealed pub-front in London. But up in a high-story brownstone flat one afternoon in the Alleys' residential section, all was not well in the Potter home.

James Potter frowned in worry, holding back Lily's dark red hair as she vomited into the toilet in their seashell themed bathroom complete with quiet moving seafront paintings and enchanted softly clacking seashell arrangements. "It's okay, it's okay," he said quietly, rubbing her back, hazel eyes worried behind his glasses. He was a tall, slim man with a mess of black hair and a nice jawline.

He had what Lily playfully called "a nerdy kind of charm" to him and it was one of the things she'd always liked about him.

At last, Lily took a deep breath and stopped retching, bowed over the porcelain goddess.

"James, I wish this illness would just go away," she admitted tiredly, her face unusually pale.

She wiped her mouth and he leaned her back carefully to sit leaning against the bathroom wall. Slowly, he sat himself down beside her, elbows on his bent knees. She leaned against the wall, head tilted upward, taking deep breaths.

"I'm not sure it will go away on its own," he admitted, worried. "What if you picked up something potentially magical and serious from your travels? The signs are alarming: chest swelling and all the signs of a serious stomach illness, from fatigue and constant tiredness, to nausea and vomiting over ordinary smells - stomach sensitivity.

"You've been throwing up a lot, actually, I'm very worried. Does your chest hurt?"

"It aches, yes," Lily admitted tiredly. "A lot. The swelling leads to pain."

James's eyebrows creased in concern. "Look. It's the end of the third week since we got back from our respective missions for the Order. We kept waiting for you to get better, but you've just gotten worse.

"I think you need to see a Healer."

"... If it would make this better," said Lily wearily. "Yes. I'll go. St Mungo's is right here in London, a hidden specialty hospital just for wizarding illnesses. We can go there."

* * *

And so on the appointed day, the Potters walked down an ordinary Muggle London street. They stopped in front of an abandoned former department store with empty, eerie mannequins in the glass front window.

"We need to get through," said James to the eerie mannequin, which slowly came to life and, with its blank face, moved aside and gestured to the abandoned department store within.

James and Lily looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then stepped through the cool glass, which rippled and melted like water as they slowly stepped their way through - walked through the window display and out through the other glass side -

And found themselves in what seemed an ordinary hospital waiting room, complete with receptionist at desk. Beyond were long corridors with green papered walls, lit by postmodern looking arrangements of crystal bubbles filled with candles. Healers in lime green robes with the crossed bone and wand Healer's symbol on their fronts walked briskly and silently through the corridors, doing this and that.

They passed through the waiting room and then through corridors of the ground floor, Artefact Accidents. They passed by countless open rooms, including one alarming room with a woman staring blankly into an enchanted music box with her hands seemingly constantly on fire in strange blue flames. She appeared not to notice the burning.

They walked to the end of the corridor, where they found a gold-grated elevator. It moved aside silently of its own accord to allow them entry and they stepped inside. The elevator walls were made of glass.

"Second floor, please," James called, his arm around Lily, and the elevator began to move smoothly upward.

They saw snatches of corridors and open rooms through the glass walls as they passed upward. First floor was Creature Induced Injuries, and it included a boy with a green dragon's claw sprouting out of his head.

"I'm glad we don't have to pass floor four," Lily whispered worriedly.

"Long term spell damage? Yeah, all those people who have lost their minds, shuffling around with lifeless eyes." James shuddered. "It's creepy. I agree. Magic is capable of tremendous wonders -"

"And tremendous horrors," Lily finished quietly.

"Floor Two: Magical Bugs and Diseases," said a cool silvery voice from everywhere and nowhere. The elevator halted and the gold grate magically slid aside to allow entry.

"All the Healers' offices are here," said James matter of factly, and they left the elevator and walked down yet another corridor. They passed people with faces filled with purple spots, or people giggling from strange illnesses.

Finally, at the back of the floor, they arrived at the quiet Healers' offices. Each door had a gold plaque with a name that was constantly rewriting itself, as if in Italianate cursive with black quill and ink.

They stopped at Durkish Mulberry's office, and James knocked on the door.

"Come in," the Healer's voice called.

Durkish Mulberry in Healer's uniform was a rather square young man with a wild thatch of greying brown hair, eyes that darted everywhere, and a haphazard manner. In his office, there was a seat for him before a long hospital bed, two waiting chairs, and then an assortment of other magical accoutrements around them. Pickled animals in glass jars, jars of colorful powders and dried roots and herbs, long rows of bottles filled with colorful potions, and a strange long tube that looped around from one side of his office to the other, becoming flat with an open top in the middle. Strange blue liquid could be seen streaming and oozing down the open pipe that went in one wall and out the other.

"Ah, the Potters. Yes, come in, sit down," said Healer Mulberry quickly, in his usual quick, darting, awkward manner. "Lily on the hospital bed, if you please."

But his eyes were sharp, focused - and his hands were surprisingly steady.

Healer Mulberry, the Potters' usual Healer, was not quite as scattered as he first appeared.

"You said you are ill," he said to Lily when she was sitting upright at the edge of the hospital bed, James in a waiting chair. "What are your symptoms?"

He darted over to stand close to her, his hands lifted eccentrically as he waited expectantly.

"Healer Mulberry, I was traveling recently and we believe I may have picked up something," said Lily, frowning. "My symptoms are mostly those of a stomach illness - I'm always tired, I'm throwing up a lot even in response to ordinary smells. But we're worried because my chest is swelling up - and it hurts a lot."

Healer Mulberry paused, a very strange expression on his face. "When did you get back from your trip?"

"This is the end of the third week since I got back."

"And the symptoms started afterward? And those are the only symptoms?"

"Yes. They've gotten worse as time has passed," said Lily seriously.

"Healer Mulberry, we were waiting for it to go away on its own," said James seriously. "The problem is, it didn't."

"... Mrs Potter," said Healer Mulberry seriously, almost apologetically but now pausing and looking at her with intense, brilliant sharpness, "are you menstruating?"

Lily's eyes widened and her face paled. She braced herself against the bed with a hand and nearly felt dizzy as the tone of the questions hit her. She realized she'd been repressing the truth from herself.

Because of course. Tender and swollen breasts, smell sensitivity, nausea and vomiting, and fatigue were all ordinary early pregnancy symptoms. That wasn't confined to witches; she knew that.

Lily put a hand to her mouth, for a moment afraid she was about to throw up again. Healer Mulberry and James both put their hands out reflexively in concern.

"... No," Lily managed through her hand. "I haven't been menstruating. My cycle is… late," she admitted.

"... But that makes no sense!" said James suddenly, realization hitting him, too. "I was away on a mission for a long time before Lily traveled for hers. We just got back almost four weeks ago, and she was sick before - before it's possible! The timing isn't right. And anyway, we always use protection when we have sex. Wizarding protection isn't like Muggle protection. It's magic. There aren't exactly any holes in the system."

"Let's just have a check, then, shall we?" said Healer Mulberry seriously, giving Lily a hard look. He took out his wand and ran it golden over her stomach. A little golden mist suddenly emitted from the end of his wand.

Lily plainly had no idea what this meant, but James sat back in shock and Durkish Mulberry's eyes widened infinitesimally.

"What?" she said, looking around. "I come from Muggles. What is it?!"

"The golden magical mist, it means… You are pregnant," said Healer Mulberry softly. "Completely and positively pregnant."

Lily sagged, stunned, as the weight of this hit her.

Because she knew, of course, where the pregnancy must have come from.

"Mrs Potter, you say you were on a trip. Forgive me, but the timing is right. Were you sexually active on this trip that did not include your away husband? Were there any men on this trip? Did you use protection during any sexual activity you may have had?" said Healer Mulberry simply, looking at her sharply.

And James looked up, his face darkening - as the implications hit him.

"It's… a story," Lily admitted, wincing. "Let me tell it to you."

And so she did what she and Sirius had sworn she'd never do. She opened her mouth, and started talking, there in the little Healer's office.

It was better than James thinking Sirius and Lily had hurt him of their own free will.

* * *

"Witches hear songs in their heads when they first conceive, Mrs Potter," said Healer Mulberry at the end. "A song plays in their head, warning them of the coming pregnancy. But as a Muggleborn, you could not be expected to know this. The song is tied to the nature of the conception. A love song, usually, or at least a sensual one. Occasionally, in sad cases, a song detailing abuse.

"Did you hear a song play in your head after your night with Mr Black?"

"... The next morning," Lily realized worriedly. "In the Veela camp. When I woke up, I heard something playing in my head. A soft, breathy, dreamy, sensual song about… bad boys and romantic escapes." She swallowed, ashamed of herself. "Of course, even had the timing not been spot on for Sirius, that couldn't have been James. He's more of a warm, funny best friend kind of song."

She looked up trying to smile at James, but he was simply staring at the floor in stunned silence.

Lily looked down, pained. "... I should have known," she whispered. "Somehow. I don't know how I could have, but I… feel like I should have prevented it."

Healer Mulberry ran a quiet wand over her belly in the stifling silence, revealing more golden mist. He lifted the mist by his wand tip, and dipped it into the oozing blue river of liquid. "Our medical records," he explained. "This will test the baby's magical signature for parentage."

He put his hand in the blue liquid now littered with golden star-stuff - and his eyes widened in surprise. The hand came out clean.

"... It is confirmed," he said quietly. "Inside there is Lily, Black family, and Veela. Most interestingly, the Veela magic is channeled through Lily. So while the precious cargo would not look Veela, it would still have Veela beauty and Veela magical character traits and characteristics. Yet all the actual appearance factors would be from the two parents: in this case, Lily Potter and Sirius Black.

"This is typical for pregnancies wrought of Veela possession."

"... James," said Lily softly. "Please say something." She and her husband weren't looking at each other.

"... I don't know what to say," James admitted, sounding lost, still staring at the floor. "It happened. But not of either person's free will."

Lily winced, still looking away. "... I know," she said softly.

"There is more news on the way," said Healer Mulberry uneasily, and the Potters looked up. "You see… that same testing just confirmed something for me.

"The problem here is that Veela usually have more fraternal children at once than humans do. They always have girls. And since Lily was possessed by direct, full-blood Veela, this matters.

"Mrs Potter is going to have three daughters - fraternal triplets.

"How it usually works in these cases - is that the one human child the couple would have had is made a daughter, whether it originally was one or not. It is then divided up into, in this case, three whole completely different, separate, independent individual people. One personality made into three, each girl representing a different part of the original one child. From there, an individual personality grows in three different people. With three different, parent-centered appearances.

"And then, of course, all three girls together have their own unique magical star chart.

"This is a highly interesting, researched issue in wizarding medicine… But perhaps now is not the time for such vested interest.

"These fraternal triplet girls will have Veela blood inside them, but they will be the children of Lily Potter and Sirius Black. They are due in autumn." Healer Mulberry smirked humorlessly. "On Halloween, in fact, according to my testing."

"One of the most powerfully magical holidays," James echoed everyone's thoughts, still sounding… stunned.

"And… you're sure there are three of them?" Lily managed in a strained voice, white as a sheet and wide-eyed.

"Oh, yes," said Healer Mulberry. "Each fraternal girl made through Veela magic is about the size of a lentil right now, but they're all in there.

"Due on Halloween.

"A few months earlier, while Mr Potter was away on his mission, and you would have had a summer baby. But these babies are irrevocably due on the greatest wizarding holiday in autumn.

"Mrs Potter, at this point I must offer something," Healer Mulberry admitted. "We are able to end pregnancies at St Mungo's, through magical means, and I must warn you of the dangers of continuing with this pregnancy.

"I'm not telling you not to go through with it, mind you. I'm just giving you all the information.

"You are with three children what is called a 'high risk pregnancy.' Even with special, safe pregnancy potions against first term miscarriage and a magical procedure to get the babies out on their due date. What that procedure would look like is that a wand makes a golden hole in your abdomen, the babies are scooped right up, and the golden hole in your abdomen is magically closed again. Probably at your home with me, as is usually done among witches and wizards.

"Vaginal birth is not advisable.

"You will get bigger than usual during pregnancy, possibly with swollen ankles that will leave you bedridden in the later months. This would not kill you, as it might a Muggle, but it will incapacitate you. After the birth, taking care of three babies - even with an extra person like the biological father, so that there is one adult per child - also increases the risk of postnatal depression.

"There are also," he added softly and delicately, "your feelings about the children being born from a kind of magical assault to deal with. I assume you have those."

James looked over tentatively at Lily - who was looking down seriously at the ground.

"I do," she admitted. "And I suppose you're all thinking this is terribly inconvenient anyway - having children by a man who is not my husband. I should probably end the pregnancy."

She took a deep breath and looked up.

"But I don't want to," she said. James's eyes widened, hurt and stunned. "I choose to opt out of ending the pregnancy," said Lily firmly and simply to the Healer, as if knowing she had made her own bed and choosing to lie in it. "I want any children I conceive.

"I want these daughters anyway. I still love them."

James finally stormed out of his chair, and Lily jumped and looked up hesitantly. So many emotions passed wildly across James's face in that instant - disbelief, hurt, confusion, anger.

"James -" Lily began, lifting a hand, and James turned away angrily.

"I… I don't know to feel!" he finally exploded, so loudly it made both Lily and Healer Mulberry jump. "The pregnancy wasn't made willingly by either party.

"But now Lily wants it. Which is brave - but she wants it. She's going to have children, and they're not mine, and they're my best friend's, and she's my wife, and I… I don't know what to do," he finished quietly. "There's no… script for this."

He was perhaps not as understand of Lily's pain as he could have been, Healer Mulberry privately thought. But in all fairness to James Potter, it was a big and horrible thing to find out. He hadn't yelled at Lily, blamed anyone, or demanded a pregnancy ending; he was already behaving at least basically decently.

"James -"

"We have to tell Sirius." James turned back to look Lily firmly in the eye, even as she paled visibly. "You realize that, don't you?

"We now have to tell Sirius, the big rebel, that he's about to have three infant children. By you. Fraternal triplets, with Veela blood, due on Halloween. Daughters."

Lily looked down sadly. "... Yes," she agreed. "Now we have to tell Sirius.

"He deserves that."

* * *

Author's Note: This is not a multi relationship fic.

I do have the logistics all worked out.


	3. Looking Forward

Chapter Three: Looking Forward

Dear Diary,

I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. I've been going through wild mood swings over the past week back at the Alleys flat, from moody to joyful all in a split instant. I spend a lot of time hugging my still-flat belly, staring out of windows; I've become a bit of a space case. I know pregnancy naturally does this in a woman, but I can't help wondering if a part of this is my actual real life circumstances.

What if I'm not a good mother? I'm very young. I've never had responsibility over one little person before, let alone three. What if three makes it impossible?

What if I resent them because of how they came about? I don't so far. But what if it's different when I'm actually looking at them?

I want any children I have to have a good parent, love, a happy home. I'll have to try my very best. I am literally carrying them around inside me right now, trying to keep them safe - and I'm keenly aware of that.

What if they're too much like the Veela? That's my other worry. What if I won't be able to relate to or trust my own children? What if they're too much like most of the Blacks, on the more human end of the spectrum? Is it nature or nurture with the Black family? Sirius came out all right.

But his relatives…

I suppose I won't know until those babies start to get older. And I have to love them anyway. I already do, but it's also my job as a mother.

I don't know what James is thinking. He doesn't talk to me much, or indeed to anyone much. He just wanders around looking blank and shocked. I think he's trying to adjust.

We're telling Sirius tomorrow - we've invited him over - and I have no idea how Sirius, the big rebel, is going to react. We haven't prepared him beforehand; we weren't sure how we could, for something like this. It could go really well because of his love and warmth and loyalty. It could go really badly because of his ingrained rebellion and bad experiences with family.

What if my daughters grow up without a father? James's parents have passed. So have mine. My sister hates me. Severus is a Death Eater. The Black family are all Dark. The Veela were the original attackers. What if I have no one to turn to?

How am I supposed to raise three tiny daughters by myself?

I suppose my entire life is going to change forever now, isn't it? I've already experienced symptoms. Eventually I'll be bed-ridden and bulging. Then a procedure to get the babies out that leaves me dead nervous.

And then three little ones. All at once. No sleep or rest at all. They will have to be my main focus. I'm so young, and I didn't make this choice, and my life will never be the same again. Not even when they're older.

What if it gets out how they came to pass, who their father is? What if we have to face poverty, judgment? What if the Blacks come after us? I know I should be a brave Gryffindor, that this shouldn't bother me, but it does.

So I get moody. I worry about so many things.

But then, to make everything more confusing, also comes joy. Because I'm going to be bringing three whole people, three little girls, into the world. They'll come from me, and I'll get to nurture them and raise them and take care of them.

I can't wait to meet them. See what they grow up into.

And I love that. What could be more beautiful than bringing children of my own into the world? It's why I refused to end the pregnancy.

And in the end I suppose that's what I have to hold onto: I refused to end the pregnancy, so there's no point in worrying about anything else, because I've already decided.

But I'm still nervous right now as I'm writing by the flat window, with James avoiding me as usual elsewhere in our home. I think James might be even more confused than I am. And even more emotional, worried.

As I said… we tell Sirius tomorrow.

* * *

Sirius burst through the flat door into the rustic wood living room, cheery as usual. "Hello, lovebirds," he said cheerfully, strolling inside with his hands in his pockets, in dark jeans and a dark coat, black hair typically wild. "How's settled down marital bliss -?"

But he stopped his teasing, his grin fading. He paused and frowned.

James was standing there, giving him the most hateful look Lily did believe she'd ever seen James give his best friend. She winced, looking downward sorrowfully, hugging at herself in her big soft white sweater.

"Merlin, Prongs," said Sirius, bewildered and worried, "what the hell's the matter -?"

And then he looked over at Lily - her guilty expression. Lily never had been very good at trying to hide her feelings.

"You didn't tell him!" Sirius said, suddenly furious, as if pleading and willing this to be true.

"I had to!" Lily looked up, distraught.

"Why?!" Sirius demanded, throwing his hands out, growing angry. "Why on earth would you have to -?!"

"Because she's pregnant," said James icily. His fixed glare on Sirius hadn't subsided.

And just like that, all the wind went out of Sirius's sails. He slackened, going white. "And - and you're sure it's not -?" he managed in a strangled voice.

"Oh, we had the pregnancy tested. It's your kid," said James flatly, anger in his voice.

Sirius just stared at Lily. Her eyes sorrowfully downward, she wouldn't look up to meet him in the eye.

"I - I - I'm having -"

"You're having a child, Sirius, buck up and deal with it," said James angrily, for once showing no sympathy whatsoever.

"I didn't choose this!" Sirius barked angrily, defensive.

James paused - and looked down. "I know," he said quietly. "You… you both were attacked." He acknowledged Lily too. "And I don't know what to do."

They gave him worried looks as he just stared away quietly.

"There's… more," said Lily, wincing. "They're going to be girls. There are three of them. Fraternal. They're due on Halloween, and they'll have Veela blood and magic inside them."

Sirius slowly sat down on the orange striped sofa near the front door.

"How… how did you find this out?" he managed, impossible to read, his hands clenched tight in front of him as if in prayer. "Tell me everything."

He deserved it, so Lily told him - the entire illness and St Mungo's story.

"And…" Lily added uneasily. "If you don't feel you can support them…"

"Of course I'm supporting them, they're my daughters!" Sirius snapped irritably, looking away absently, as if this were obvious and had already been decided. "You're supposed to support your children no matter what, damn what my family says! Merlin, Lily, what kind of a person do you think I am?" he demanded, looking up to glare at her.

Lily - felt a smile of blissful relief fill her face before she could stop herself. She would get support, after all. Warmth flooded her.

"Of course," she said quietly, smiling, her eyes lowering once more. "My apologies."

"Children, huh…? I'm - I'm going to have to go to Gringotts Bank tomorrow. Make those three my heiresses. That way if I pass, all the vast Black fortune goes to them," said Sirius absently, his brow wrinkled, obviously thinking hard. "I just… damn, what kind of a father am I going to make?" he said to himself, obviously bewildered.

"I was just wondering the same thing about myself," said Lily cheerfully.

"Oh, you'll be fine," Sirius shrugged. "You're practically a mother already anyway."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Lily snapped, immediately going fiery, hands on her hips.

"Well, geez, don't shoot, okay?!" Sirius raised his hands in false woundedness. "I see those pregnancy hormones have gotten to you already," he added, faux matter of fact.

Then he laughed and ducked as Lily, trying not to smile, threw a pillow straight at him.

"So that's just it, is it?"

Lily and Sirius paused - and looked around hesitantly to James. He was swelling himself up toward a mighty fight - toward pouring all of his emotions out.

"You two are parents and that's just all there is to it?!" he demanded.

At that point, the flat door opened and a throat was cleared. "Everyone should be aware," said Albus Dumbledore's voice matter of factly, "that your close friend Peter Pettigrew and myself have been standing out on the landing for a fair twenty minutes."

Everyone looked around in bewilderment to see Peter squeaking and hiding behind a dignified Dumbledore's robes.

"What are you two doing together?" Sirius asked in bewilderment, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"We came as separate visitors, but I believe we met up in the middle, so to speak," said Dumbledore. "We heard everything. You have both my congratulations and my apologies," he said softly, his eyes sad and emotional.

"Good thing it wasn't Remus," Sirius admitted - glancing over hesitantly at a stony James as if looking for agreement. "All that time with the werewolves. I'm not entirely sure we can trust him anymore."

Dumbledore and a shy, stunned looking Peter had entered the flat and closed the door locked behind them. Dumbledore flicked a lazy wand - silencing wards shimmered near invisible on the surrounding flat walls.

"Great. Now there's a show. Now more people know," James finally forced out, snappish.

"You're embarrassed we were assaulted?!" Lily demanded disbelievingly.

"I am allowed to be embarrassed that my wife is having children with my best friend!" James snarled.

"Don't talk that way to her!" Sirius demanded, springing to his feet.

"Protective of her? She's not your wife, is she?" James sneered.

"I'm not saying it because we're together or anything, I'm saying it because it's Lils and she doesn't deserve it!" Sirius barked. "Merlin, Prongs, get a hold of yourself!"

"What do you think I've been trying to do?!" James shouted. "I've been trying to get a hold of myself for a full damn week, and I can't! What am I supposed to -? What surname are they going to have?! Mine?! Have you thought about that?!"

Lily and Sirius went dead quiet, wide-eyed.

"Do I parent and raise them? Do I not parent and raise them? If I choose the second, does that mean leaving my wife? Will my relationship ever be the same with my wife? What about my relationship with my best friend? Do I financially support the three alongside Sirius using the Potter fortune?

"You were assaulted, and I understand that, and I'm sorry! But you have to understand, this isn't a goddamn walk in the park for me either!"

James just stood there, breath heaving, spent, as the words rang out in the silence between them.

Sirius bowed his head, his face pained, Lily looking sympathetic behind him. "I know," said Sirius softly in shame. "I'm sorry."

James slumped, some of the anger draining out of him. "... I am, too," he said tiredly. "So at least we have that in common."

Sirius and James at last managed a weak chuckle. Lily smiled tentatively, looking from one to the other in worry.

"... We're all good friends," said Lily quietly. "We'll figure this out. We'll get through this."

Her words were warm, bracing. But though they didn't protest, both men were still unusually quiet, not looking at each other.

"Wise words," said Dumbledore at last from a corner of the room, and everyone turned curiously to look at him - Peter Pettigrew included. "Now. James, do you trust Sirius not to actually have an affair with your wife?"

Dumbledore's blue eyes were razor sharp.

"... Yes," James admitted, and a part of Sirius relaxed in relief.

"Very well. So that's established," said Dumbledore, all business. "On that note, then, I say we all sample some lovely scones in the kitchen and leave Sirius and Lily to themselves for a few minutes. Whatever else can be said, these two people now have one thing in common - three coming biological children.

"They deserve some time by themselves to adjust to the idea - just as all three people in this situation deserve understanding and sympathy as they work through their emotions in the coming weeks. Agreed?"

"... Yes," even James admitted, and Peter practically scurried into the kitchen first on a wave of silent, terrified social anxiety.

After a pause, James and Dumbledore followed into the sunny yellow kitchen - James with one glance back over his shoulder at the two who were staring at each other solemnly, still out in the living room.

Some things only they could now read in each other, and James realized he hated that.

* * *

"... What if we resent them because of how they came about?" Lily whispered to Sirius.

Sirius paused, frowning at the floor. "... Do you resent them now?" he asked, looking up tentatively. "Do you… want them?"

"Of course I don't! And of course I do!" said Lily, offended.

"Well, geez. If you're that bothered by the question, you don't have anything to worry about."

Lily blinked in surprise. "That is… actually wise."

"No need to sound so shocked," said Sirius dryly. "As for me…" He looked off into the distance. "I'd rather have children who came about in a bad way but are wanted - than children like me, who came about in a perfect way but ended up unwanted."

It was a very Sirius way of looking at the situation, but it was actually also a surprisingly good point.

"And what if they're… too much like the Veela? Or…" Lily trailed off uncertainly.

"Or my family?" Sirius finished dryly. He snorted. "Trust me. I grew up as a Black. Blacks are made. That home is a hellhole. And Veela aren't naturally evil anymore than any other magical creature - especially when they're diluted by human. Circumstances make magical creatures evil.

"Remember Flitwick? So cheerful and kind?"

"Yes," said Lily, confused.

"He's part goblin," said Sirius grimly, watching Lily's eyes widen in surprise. "But you'd never know it, would you?"

"... Our life is about to change forever now, isn't it?" said Lily solemnly.

"Shit… yeah," Sirius admitted in a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "I don't feel… ready. It's going to take some time to adjust to this." His eyes were wide. "And so much is uncertain still." He glanced in the direction James had disappeared into, looking troubled.

"Maybe we'll never be ready," Lily offered quietly. "But you know what? As absurd as it sounds, we're about to make three little people. Three little girls. It's why I refused to terminate the pregnancy."

She smiled peacefully, hand over her still flat stomach, finally having found serenity.

"I'm looking forward to meeting them."

Sirius gave one of his funny little surprised smiles. "... Yeah," he admitted. "I am, too.

"I'm still… stunned," he admitted.

"They came about in a very unexpected way," Lily agreed. She and Sirius smiled at one another, shy and glowing in excitement.

Somehow, strangely, with these three girls, the worst of the assault had actually fallen behind them.


End file.
